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Micro-surfacing pavements often exhibit elevated interior noise levels, posing challenges for environmental comfort. This study aimed to explore the surface texture wavelength characteristics of such pavements and their relationship with interior noise. A three-dimensional texture laser scanning system was used to determine the slope spectral density (SSD) of surface texture wavelengths, while environmental vibration analyzers measured interior noise and frequency spectra. Compared to SMA-13 pavements, micro-surfacing pavements exhibited higher noise levels in the low-mid frequency range (50–800 Hz) and high-frequency range (5000–16000 Hz). The SSD distributions of surface texture wavelengths were found to conform to Gaussmod functions with determination coefficients (R²) above 0.99. Strong linear correlations were observed between interior noise and SSD parameters, including peak value, peak area, and wavelength band area ratio. Particularly, node wavelengths between 10 and 20 mm showed determination coefficients (R²) exceeding 0.96 with interior noise, suggesting that reducing the area ratio of these wavelengths can significantly lower noise in the low-mid frequency range. Based on these findings, we propose a design threshold for low-noise micro-surfacing pavements: the area ratio for 10 mm node wavelengths should not exceed 50%. This recommendation provides a practical framework for future pavement designs aiming to minimize noise levels.

There is much variation in hospice use with respect to geographic factors such as area-based deprivation, location of patient's residence and proximity to services location. However, little is known about how the association between geographic access to inpatient hospice and hospice deaths varies by patients' region of settlement. To examine regional differences in the association between geographic access to inpatient hospice and hospice deaths. A regional population-based observational study in England, UK. Records of patients aged ≥ 25 years (n = 123088) who died from non-accidental causes in 2014, were extracted from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) death registry. Our cohort comprised of patients who died at home and in inpatient hospice. Decedents were allocated to each of the nine government office regions of England (London, East Midlands, West Midlands, East, Yorkshire and The Humber, South West, South East, North West and North East) through record linkage with their postcode of usual residence. We defined geographic access as a measure of drive times from patients' residential location to the nearest inpatient hospice. A modified Poisson regression estimated the association between geographic access to hospice, comparing hospice deaths (1) versus home deaths (0). We developed nine regional specific models and adjusted for regional differences in patient's clinical & socio-demographic characteristics. The strength of the association was estimated with adjusted Proportional Ratios (aPRs). The percentage of deaths varied across regions (home: 86.7% in the North East to 73.0% in the South East; hospice: 13.3% in the North East to 27.0% in the South East). We found wide differences in geographic access to inpatient hospices across regions. Median drive times to hospice varied from 4.6 minutes in London to 25.9 minutes in the North East. We found a dose-response association in the East: (aPRs: 0.22-0.78); East Midlands: (aPRs: 0.33-0.63); North East (aPRs: 0.19-0.87); North West (aPRs: 0.69-0.88); South West (aPRs: 0.56-0.89) and West Midlands (aPRs: 0.28-0.92) indicating that decedents who lived further away from hospices locations (≥ 10 minutes) were less likely to die in a hospice. The clear dose-response associations in six regions underscore the importance of regional specific initiatives to improve and optimise access to hospices. Commissioners and policymakers need to do more to ensure that home death is not due to limited geographic access to inpatient hospice care.

Background Rehabilitation is effective for multiple sclerosis, but is it value for money? Objectives To evaluate functional outcomes, care needs and cost-efficiency of specialist inpatient rehabilitation for adults with multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods A multicentre cohort study of prospectively collected clinical data from the UK Rehabilitation Outcomes Collaborative national clinical database. Data included all adults with MS (n = 1007) admitted for specialist inpatient (Level 1 or 2) rehabilitation in England, 2010–2018. Outcome measures Dependency/care needs: Northwick Park Dependency Scale/Care Needs Assessment, Functional independence: UK Functional Assessment Measure (UK FIM+FAM). Cost-efficiency. Patients were analysed in three dependency groups (High/Medium/Low). Results All groups showed significant reduction in dependency between admission and discharge on all measures (paired t-tests: p < 0.001). Mean reduction in care costs/week was greatest in the most dependent patients: High: £519 (95% CI: 447–597), Medium: £148 (76–217), Low: £36 (12–83). Despite longer stays, time taken to offset the cost of rehabilitation was shortest in the most dependent patients: High: 12.9 (12.0–14.1) months; Medium: 29.3 (21.3–51.8); Low: 76.8 (0–36.1). Item-level changes corresponded with clinical experience. Conclusions Specialist rehabilitation provided good value for money in patients with MS, yielding improved outcomes and substantial savings in ongoing care costs, especially in high-dependency patients.

Survival and adaptation to seasonal changes are challenging for insects. Many temperate insects such as the rice stem borer (Chilo suppressalis) overcome the adverse situation by entering diapause, wherein development changes dynamically occur and metabolic activity is suppressed. The photoperiod and temperature act as major environmental stimuli of diapause. However, the physiological and molecular mechanisms that interpret the ecologically relevant environmental cues in ontogenetic development during diapause termination are poorly understood. Here, we used genome-wide high-throughput RNA-sequencing to examine the patterns of gene expression during diapause termination in C. suppressalis. Major shifts in biological processes and pathways including metabolism, environmental information transmission, and endocrine signalling were observed across diapause termination based on over-representation analysis, short time-series expression miner, and gene set enrichment analysis. Many new pathways were identified in diapause termination including circadian rhythm, MAPK signalling, Wnt signalling, and Ras signalling, together with previously reported pathways including ecdysteroid, juvenile hormone, and insulin/insulin-like signalling. Our results show that convergent biological processes and molecular pathways of diapause termination were shared across different insect species and provided a comprehensive roadmap to better understand diapause termination in C. suppressalis.

Data suggest poorer bereavement outcomes for lesbian, gay and bisexual people, but this has not been estimated in population-based research. This study compared bereavement outcomes for partners of same-gender and different-gender decedents. In this population-based, cross-sectional survey of people bereaved of a civil partner or spouse 6-10 months previously, we used adjusted logistic and linear regression to investigate outcomes of interest: (1) positive screen on Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG), (2) positive screen on General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), (3) grief intensity (ICG) and (4) psychiatric symptoms (GHQ-12). Among 233 same-gender partners and 329 of different-gender partners, 66.1% [95% confidence interval (CI) 60.0-72.2] and 59.2% [95% CI (53.9-64.6)] respectively screened positive for complicated grief on the ICG, whilst 76.0% [95% CI (70.5-81.5)] and 69.3% [95% CI (64.3-74.3)] respectively screened positive on the GHQ-12. Same-gender bereaved partners were not significantly more likely to screen positive for complicated grief than different-gender partners [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.56, 95% CI (0.98-2.47)], = 0.059, but same-gender bereaved partners were significantly more likely to screen for psychiatric caseness [aOR 1.67 (1.02, 2.71) = 0.043]. We similarly found no significant association of partner gender with grief intensity [ = 1.86, 95% CI (-0.91to 4.63), = 0.188], but significantly greater psychological distress for same-gender partners [ = 1.54, 95% CI (-0.69-2.40), < 0.001]. Same-gender bereaved partners report significantly more psychological distress. In view of their poorer sub-clinical mental health, clinical and bereavement services should refine screening processes to identify those at risk of poor mental health outcomes.

Polyurethane (PU) materials, with their excellent mechanical properties, durability, and fatigue resistance, hold promise for addressing the challenges of aging, environmental pollution, and segregation during the storage of modified asphalt mixtures, thereby extending the lifespan of pavements and enhancing the level of service. Although studies have been conducted on the road performance of PU mixtures that compared them with asphalt mixtures, there is relatively less research on how the air void of PU mixtures affects their performance. This study systematically investigates the dynamic characteristics and road performance of dense-graded PU mixtures at three air void ranges—1%–3%, 3%–5%, and 5%–7%—and verifies the effectiveness through statistical methods. The research results show that air voids have a significant impact on road performance. Compared to low air voids, high air voids can increase high-temperature performance by 12%–33%. However, higher air voids also lead to a significant decrease in resistance to water damage, with a reduction of about 9%–24%. When the air void is in the range of 3%–5%, the mixture has better dynamic stability. Therefore, when designing PU mixtures, a reasonable air void should be selected based on engineering conditions to achieve the optimal pavement structure combination and save investment. This study provides a scientific basis for the design and application of PU mixtures and lays the foundation for further understanding of their performance mechanisms.

Arsenic trioxide (ATO) is able to selectively target and degrade the disease-causing PML::RARα (P/R) oncoprotein in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) for curing the disease. However, some relapsed patients develop resistance to ATO due to mutations in the promyelocytic leukemia (PML) part of the PML::RARα fusion gene. A relapsed APL patient had shown resistance to ATO and chemotherapy and was identified to harbor a point mutation (A216V) in the unrearranged PML allele rather than the PML::RARα fusion gene. Here, we report that mutations in the unrearranged PML allele impede the ATO-induced destabilization and degradation of the wild-type P/R oncoprotein. Deletion of the coiled-coil domain in a PML mutant completely reversed wild-type P/R protein resistance to ATO by abolishing the interaction between PML and P/R proteins. Collectively, our findings reveal that a point mutation in the unrearranged PML allele can confer ATO resistance through a protein-protein interaction. Therefore, the unrearranged PML allele should also be screened for drug-resistant mutations in relapsed APL patients.

•Motor control improves and association cortices mature in childhood and adolescence.•68 youth performed a motor sequencing task during magnetoencephalography (MEG).•Prefrontal beta oscillations weaken with age when planning complex sequences.•Planning-related beta becomes stronger in posterior cortices during development.•Gamma becomes stronger with age in occipital and weaker in temporal cortices. Primary motor areas in the brain mature relatively early in development, yet the control of complex movements improves through early adulthood. Neural oscillations in higher-order regions are refined in adolescence and contribute to executive processes important for complex motor control, but the neural dynamics among these regions and primary motor cortices remain poorly understood in youth. We recorded magnetoencephalography during a motor sequencing task in 68 healthy youth from ten to 17 years of age. Significant changes in oscillatory activity relative to baseline were identified at the sensor level and source reconstructed with a beamformer. Whole-brain maps of beta (18–24 Hz) and gamma (74–84 Hz) oscillatory activity were subjected to voxel-wise repeated-measures ANCOVAs to identify brain areas in which the developmental trajectory of oscillatory power differed by sequence complexity (simple/complex) or motor stage (planning/execution). Beta activity in bilateral prefrontal cortices was weaker with age during the planning of complex movements. Across simple and complex conditions, older youth tended to have stronger beta in posterior areas during planning. Finally, gamma activity across conditions was stronger with age in occipital and weaker in temporal cortices. These results suggest that the functional refinement of association cortices may drive improvements in motor control by enabling more efficient attentional and inhibitory control during formulation of the motor plan.

Maternal hemoglobin (Hb) is related to nutritional status, which affects neonatal birth weight. However, it is very common for maternal Hb to fluctuate during pregnancy. To evaluate the associations of maternal Hb in different time points and its changes during pregnancy with neonatal birth weight, small for gestational age (SGA)/low birth weight (LBW) and large for gestational age (LGA)/macrosomia, we conducted this study by using data from the Electronic Medical Record System (EMRS) database of Zhoushan Maternal and Child Care Hospital in Zhejiang province, China. The pregnancy was divided into five periods: first, early-second, mediate-second, late-second, early-third and late-third trimesters; we further calculated the maternal Hb changes during pregnancy. Overall, the socio-demographic characteristics, health-related information and childbirth-related information of 24,183 mother–infant pairs were obtained. The average Hb concentration during the different periods were 123.95 ± 10.14, 117.95 ± 9.84, 114.31 ± 9.03, 113.26 ± 8.82, 113.29 ± 8.68 and 115.01 ± 8.85 g/L, respectively. Significant dose–response relationships between maternal Hb and birth weight were observed in the first, late-second and later trimesters (p non-linear < 0.05). Maternal Hb < 100 g/L was related to a high risk of LGA/macrosomia in the late-second (OR: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.18, 1.83) and later trimesters; additionally, high maternal Hb (>140 g/L) increased the risk of SGA/LBW in the first (OR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.57) and late-third trimesters (OR: 1.96, 95% CI: 1.20, 3.18). In addition, the increase in maternal Hb from the late-second to late-third trimesters had a positive correlation with SGA/LBW. In conclusion, maternal Hb markedly fluctuated during pregnancy; the negative dose–response association of maternal Hb in the late-second and third trimesters, and Hb change during pregnancy with neonatal birth weight outcomes were observed, respectively. Furthermore, the phenomenon of high Hb in the first trimester and after the late-second trimester and the increase of maternal Hb from the late-second to late-third trimesters more significantly increasing the risk of SGA/LBW should especially be given more attention. Its biological mechanism needs to be further explored.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a serious clinical condition whose underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here we identify a long non-coding RNA, RSDR , as a critical regulator of renal protection in AKI. RSDR interacts with the RNA-binding protein hnRNPK, forming a positive feedback loop that enhances the transcription of DHODH , a key ferroptosis-suppressing gene. Mechanistically, RSDR promotes the nuclear retention of hnRNPK and facilitates epigenetic activation of DHODH , thereby limiting ferroptosis in renal tubular epithelial cells. In vivo overexpression of RSDR attenuates ferroptosis and preserves renal function in male mice during AKI. Clinically, urinary RSDR levels are significantly reduced in patients with AKI, and machine learning analysis suggests potential utility in disease detection. These findings highlight RSDR as a central regulator of ferroptosis and provide mechanistic insights into lncRNA-mediated tubular protection in AKI. Ferroptosis has been reported to contribute to the pathogenesis of acute kidney injury (AKI). Here the authors report a study with male mice showing that the long non-coding RNA RSDR suppresses renal tubular cell ferroptosis in AKI by retaining nuclear hnRNPK and activating DHODH transcription